In a game that spanned five days, used a combined nine pitchers, and saw the lead tie or change seven times, the Deltaville Deltas saw their season come to an end on the final pitch of their quarterfinal matchup.
The Richmond Trash Pandas used back-to-back singles to earn a walk-off win in the 11th inning, defeating the Deltas 6-5 and eliminating them from the Richmond NABA (National Adult Baseball Association) playoffs.
The game began on Sunday, Aug. 2, and saw Deltas starting pitcher Matt Kleinfelter lock into a scoreless pitchers duel with Richmond’s Traylor DuVal. After three innings, the game was scoreless when severe storms swept through Richmond forcing the suspension of the game. Further storms and field conditions delayed the resumption of the game over successive nights, but the game was finally able to resume on Thursday night, with just six regulation innings remaining in the 0-0 ballgame.
The Trash Pandas struck first, plating a run in the fourth inning. The Deltas scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 2-1 lead, however the Trash Pandas tied it up in the bottom half at 2-2.
In the eighth, Richmond drove in a run to take back the lead, 3-2. Facing elimination in their final at-bat, Deltaville manufactured a run off the bat of Dylan Deyoung, who beat out a throw at first to score Alexander Crittenden.
Both teams were scoreless in the 10th inning, but in the top of the 11th Spencer Crittenden drove a line drive to left field, scoring Jett Bristow and Kevin Cole, giving the Deltas a 5-3 lead.
Poised to advance to the semifinal, a leadoff walk was followed by back-to-back strikeouts from pitcher Cole Stamm, who had taken the mound back in the eighth inning. However, after another walk and a pitching change to bring in K. Cole, a single to the outfield drove in two runs, tying the game. This was followed by a weak ground ball that found its way into no man’s land in between third base and shortstop, and the winning run crossed the plate for the Trash Pandas.
The Deltas season concluded with an overall record 11-8. This was the first season since the Deltas joined the Richmond NABA in 2016 that they finished lower than third place. “Most teams would be happy with an 11-8 record in a very competitive league like ours,” Deltas Coach Jerry Crittenden remarked. “We are not. Our bar is set higher than that,” he said, already looking forward to a rebound next season.
